Sachin Shingade has been the mainstay of Dabang Delhi’s defence in Pro Kabaddi

The only thing constant in life is change and that extends to all its aspects, right from personal to professional. A single moment possesses the ability to change your life permanently, for better or worse. In Dabang Delhi defender Sachin Shingade’s case, the moment when Star Sports decided to launch Pro Kabaddi, changed everything about his life. Shingade, who has been one of the best defenders in the league this season, spoke to Sportskeeda about his life, career and journey from Islampur to national television.

Born in the land of kabaddi

Maharashtra is a talent hub for kabaddi in India and a lot of players, currently in Pro Kabaddi, hail from there, such as Kashiling Adake, Nitin Madane, Vishal Mane and Rishank Devadiga among others. Sachin Shingade is also a Maharashtrian and was born in a village named Islampur, which is located in Sangli district. Son of a bus driver and a housewife, Shingade started playing kabaddi at the age of around 13, when he played for his school team.

A lot of people do not know this but Sachin was in the same school as Nitin Madane, who is another kabaddi star playing for Bengal Warriors. A friendship that started in school has gone on to stay as the two represented the same club as well. “I know Nitin Madane since long and we have been good friends ever since we were together in school. He was a good player in school as well and we had a lot of good times,” he said.

Kabaddi, even at the university level, is pretty huge in certain parts of the country, including and especially in Haryana and Maharashtra. Shingade, a product of the Maharashtrian conveyor belt of talent, rose within his school ranks and performed exceptionally well, helping his team reach a state level competition. Shingade fondly spoke about his time when he played for the Shivaji University and how they eventually ended up being runners up to Rohtak University.

“The year 2011 was excellent for our university and we played excellent kabaddi. We reached the final but lost to Rohtak University from Haryana. There were a lot of talented players from Haryana and they deserved the win,” he recalled.

Rising through the ranks

The Dabang Delhi defender then switched to playing for Mahindra Club, which is one of the most popular kabaddi outfits in Maharashtra. Incidentally, it was the Mahindra Club where he first met current Dabang Delhi coach Sagar Bandekar. “I know Bandekar sir from a long time and his knowledge of the game is impeccable. A lot of players playing in Pro Kabaddi have learnt a lot from him and he is a veteran of the game.”

His earnestness stands out in his tone and one can only fathom the kind of change players like Shingade must have gone through when they were suddenly thrust on to the national television by Star Sports Pro Kabaddi. “It was quite unbelievable and shocking initially. I could not believe the fact that I was coming on TV. The happiness was something I had never imagined in life. Life has changed drastically and people love us a lot now, which is really comforting,” said Shingade with great humility in his tone.

Love, respect and status

The respect levels for him and his family have risen sharply ever since Shingade has joined Pro Kabaddi. “People in our village respect us and we have become popular all around. Financially, too, things have improved drastically as we now are building a house of our own, which was not the case previously,” said the Dabang Delhi defender.

He thinks that Telugu Titans have an excellent chance of winning Pro Kabaddi 2016 Season 4 as they have a really strong outfit. Shingade expressed his appreciation for raiders like Ajay Thakur, Deepak Niwas Hooda and Nitin Madane while he thinks Manjeet Chhillar is the best defender in the league.

Shingade is married and was blessed with a baby boy nearly 25 days back. He spoke about how people say that the child has brought him a lot of good luck. “My son was born around the time the tournament started and people say that I have am playing good because of him coming into the world.”

Dabang Delhi have been pretty inconsistent in the tournament and it will take a monumental effort for them to be able to make it to the semi-finals of Pro Kabaddi 2016 Season 4. However, Sachin Shingade has been a revelation for them and if they are to do the unprecedented in their history, their defender will need to lead from the front.